Supreme Court of Russia sided with the creditor in a situation of insufficient evidence

The highest court of Russia considered the complaint of one of the debtor's creditors, whose claim to be included in the register of creditors’ claims was rejected by the lower courts.  The reason for this was the lack of the documents, confirming the debt and submitted by the applicant.  However, the Supreme Court of Russia indicated that in the case under consideration, the creditor could not have more documents, and the investigation of the issue of the presence of creditors and the size of their claims is the concern of a bankruptcy trustee.

The fact is that we are talking about the bankruptcy of a financial organization that was a professional participant in the securities market. For a particular creditor, the debtor company acted as a broker and depository.

Presenting claims against the debtor, the creditor submitted the documents he had to the court, but all three instances considered this to be insufficient evidence of the debt.

The bankruptcy trustee, in turn, indicated that he could not have carried out more detailed work to identify the creditors and their claims due to the lack of necessary documents that the debtor did not transfer.

In the situation under consideration, the economic board indicated that the negative consequences of the lack of the required amount of evidence of debt could not be shifted to the lender, since he is not a professional in this area. In this case, the bankruptcy trustee is the person who should find out the existence of debts and outline the circle of creditors, which was not done to the necessary extent. Now the creditor's application for the inclusion of his claim in the register of creditors’ claims will be reconsidered (decision № 305-ES21-5898 of August 12, 2021 in case № A40-127722 / 2019).